Skip to main content
Scenes from Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Meeting

Minute

Meeting #22

February 8, 2006

1. The meeting was called to order at 12:35 p.m. on Wednesday, February 8, 2006 in the third floor conference room in Green Hall, Chairperson Rice presiding. All members were present.

2. The Minutes of Executive Committee Meetings #20, January 25, 2006 and #21, February 1, 2006 were approved as corrected.

3. As agreed previously, the Executive Committee devoted the first hour of the meeting to a discussion of the draft faculty survey questions. Ms. Grubman was asked to revise the first 15 questions based on the discussion and to forward them to the FSEC as soon as possible. They decided to consider the remaining questions and revised questions at their next meeting.

4. Chairperson Rice reported that Professor Emeritus Al Lott had informed him that the Call to Duty Tour is scheduled to discuss the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on February 23. He said that the President's Office, the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Political Science department, the GLBT Center, and the Multicultural Center are sponsoring the program. Chairperson Rice said that he planned to make an announcement regarding the program at the February 23 Faculty Senate Meeting.

5. Ms. Grubman distributed a draft cover of the Agenda for Faculty Senate Meeting #6, February 23, 2006 and agreed to forward the reports electronically.

6. The Executive Committee agreed to the following topics for their February 15 meeting with the Provost:

a. A discussion of revising the Administrator Evaluation process to coordinate with the Provost's reviews of academic administrators

b. The establishment of a joint Academic Program Review Committee, including administrative support for the committee and the process in the future.

c. An update on searches for administrative and faculty positions.

7. The Executive Committee considered the following matters of continuing concern:

a. Administrative bottlenecks: The Executive Committee noted that the recent announcement from Vice President Weygand regarding streamlining administrative procedures and policies at URI with regard to college requisitions, purchase of office supplies and Limited Value Purchase Orders (LVPO) was a positive step toward eliminating bottlenecks.

b. Academic Investment & Improvement Model (AIIM): Vice Chairperson Martin reported that according to Ms. Morrissey, the intention was to provide all deans and academic department chairs with access to the executive view of the results of the AIIM survey for their departments and colleges.

c. Early Course registration: Senator Luebke reported that the ad hoc committee had scheduled its first meeting and expected to complete its charge this semester.

d. JSPC: Executive Committee discussed the information they had received at the February 6 meeting of the JSPC. Members of the FSEC expressed concerns about the uncertainty of the University's budget for the current and the following fiscal year. It was noted that any attempt at strategic planning is undermined by the degree of ambiguity about the budget.

8. Chairperson Rice noted that a bill had been introduced in the RI House of Representatives (2006 H-7092) to authorize a 1:1 state match for all federal research, outreach and training dollars received by the University. He suggested that the Executive Committee read the legislation and consider drafting a resolution in support of the bill.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sheila Black Grubman